BANGS – Three turnovers, seven penalties, four punts and yielding a special teams touchdown was a recipe for trouble Friday night, as the Bangs Dragons remained winless in District 5-2A Division I action with a 42-14 home loss to the Hico Tigers.
Bangs (2-5, 2-0) finished with 231 yards of total offense – 120 passing and 111 rushing – and surrendered 327 total yards to Hico (5-2, 1-1) – 244 on the ground and 83 through the air – while suffering its third loss in a row under first-year head coach Colton Buzzard.
The two teams traded turnovers on their opening possessions, but Hico responded with consecutive scoring drives as quarterback Tyler Jackson scored on a 36-yard carry and then threw a 23-yard touchdown to Price Mullin to build a 15-0 advantage just 8 seconds into the second period.
Bangs responded with its longest play of the night, and perhaps season, as quarterback Hunter Winters connected with Braxton Wommack, who bobbled the pass before hauling it in and racing 75 yards for a touchdown. Connor Bible then pulled in the two-point toss from Withers and the Dragons were within seven, 15-8, with 10:42 left before halftime.
Hico fired back with two more touchdowns before halftime, however, as Buck Powell scored on a 1-yard plunge at the 6:19 mark then, after Bangs fumbled away the kickoff, Mullin scored three snaps later on a 16-yard run to stretch the lead to 21 points at the 4:46 juncture.
The Dragons were limited to one first down and aside from the long touchdown pass, mustered just 41 total yards in the opening half.
The second half began with Kalder Halbrook returning the kick 82 yards to the end zone for Hico, as the Dragons faced a 36-8 deficit just 12 seconds into the third period.
The Tigers tacked on their final points on their first possession of the third quarter as Mullin’s 3-yard touchdown run at the 7:39 mark capped a 52-yard drive that was sparked by a 49-yard pass from Jackson to Wyatt Honea.
Bangs added its final points with 9:13 left in the contest as, facing a fourth-and-25, Withers hurled a pass in the direction of Aden Jones, who made a one-hand leaping catch, then weaved his way through the Hico defense 43 yards to the end zone to make the score 42-14.
The Dragons reached the Tigers’ 7 on the final drive of the game before being turned away.
Jackson completed 4 of 6 passes for 83 yards and rushed for 68 yards a score for Hico, Powell finished with a game-high 73 rushing yards and a touchdown, and Mullin chipped in 39 yards on the ground and reached the end zone twice. Honea was the top receiver with two catches totaling 56 yards, while Mullin added two grabs for 27 yards with another score.
For Bangs, Withers connected on 5 of 14 passes for 120 yards as Jones led the way with three grabs for 38 yards a touchdown, Wommack hauled in the 75-yard scoring toss and Cason Tidwell added a 7-yard reception.
On the ground, Jackson Edmiston finished with 44 yards trailed by Jones with 38, Brayden Gatlin with 28, Navaeh Menefield with 19, Skylar Minshew with 10, and Withers with 3 yards. The team combined to lose 27 yards on the ground due to bad snaps.
Tidwell recovered Hico’s fumble in the first quarter for Bangs’ only takeaway and led the team with 10.5 tackles. Eliseo Rivas chipped in 8.5 tackles, Kian Kelly logged 7 tackles, Jones and Hunter Crowell both finished with 6.5 tackles, and Haydon Bush chalked up 6 tackles.
The Dragons’ search for their first district win takes them to undefeated and 10th ranked Hamilton (7-0, 2-0) next week, as the Bulldogs are coming off a 35-13 victory over the Ballinger team that knocked off Bangs, 33-12, a week ago.
